Buckboard-wagon



(N0 Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet I. W. LEPPERT 8v W. 1. GARDINER.

BUGKBOARD WAGON.

110.386,141. Patented July 17, 1888.

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UNITED STATES FATENT @riunito "WILLIAM LEPPER'I AND VILLIAM I.

GARDINER, or SEYMOUR., INDIANA.

BUCKBARDWAGON.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 386,141, dated July 17,1888.

Application tiled March 27, 1888.

To @ZZ whom it 17mg concern.'

Be it known that we, WILLIAM LEPPERT and NVILLIAM I. GARDINER, citizens of the United States, residing at Seymour, in the county of Jackson and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Buckboard-XVagons; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description ofthe invention, suoli as will enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to make and use the same.

Our invention relates to wagons ofthe class commonly known as buckboards, and it consists in the improved construction and arrangement or combination of the parts composing such a wagon, in which the rear portion of the slat bottom is supported upon two elliptic springs arranged longitudinally of the wagon, and the front portion upon one transversely-arranged elliptic spring, in which the rear axle is dropped or bent in such manner as to bring its spindles in a piane with or above said slat bottom, in which the front support for the slat bottom is sufficiently dropped or lowered to allow for the increase in height caused by the arrangement of the front spring, and in which the rear axle is arranged some distance in advance of the rear end of said slat bottom and the forward axle is pivotally supported in advance of the forward end of the same, so as to produce a short coupling of the runninggear, and at the same time free playh for the front wheels infturning the wagon, as will be hereinafter fully disclosed in the deseription, drawings and claims.

The object of our invention is to provide a buckboardwagon which is simple in construction, strong, and comparatively inexpensive to manufacture, one in which the slat bottom is supported by springs for the purpose of additionally cushioning the seat, which is secured upon the slats to support the slat bottom in such manner that it will be hung as low or lower than the slat bottomsin ordinary buckboard-wagons with and without springs, and to support said slat bottom above the runninggear in such manner that the coupling of said running-gear between the front and rear axles will be comparatively short, whereby an easy-riding and easily guided and turned wagon will be produced.

The construction of the wagon is clearly Serial No. 268,717. (No model.)`

illustrated in the drawings accompanying and forming apart of this specification, in which the same numerals of reference indicate the same or corresponding parts, and in which- Figure 1 represents a side view of the body and running-gear of our improved buckboardwagon, the wheels being removed; Fig. 2, a

front view of the same; Fig. 3, a rear view thereof, and Fig. 4t a view of the under side or bottom of the same.

In the accompanying drawings, the numeral 1 indicates the seat, which is mounted by braces 2 upon the slat bottom 3 in the usual manner. This bottom is provided with the usual guard or rail, 4, around its rear portion, and at its front portion with a dash-board, 5, which is secured to an inclined foot-board, 6, which is supported by inclined brackets 7 upon the forward portions of the side slats of the bottom. The rear axle, 8, is dropped or bent so as to bring its central portion, 9, down in a plane below its spindles 10, and two ellip` tic springs, 11, are suitably secured to the ends of the central or lower portion of this axle immediately adjoining the upwardlyY- bent portions 12 thereof. A bar, 13, is secured transversely beneath and to the slat bottom and directly above the rear axle. endsof this bar are bent upward and outward, and are secured to the upper sides of the upper halves of the elliptic springs, this bar and said springs serving to yieldingly support the rear portion ofthe slat bottom at its sides and directly over the rear axle. This trans verse bar is also secured to the bottom at a sufficient distance from its rear cud to cause the rear ends of the springs to terminate slightly forwardof its rear end, thus causing the springsupport for the rear end of said bottoni to fall just in rear ofthe seat, where the weight of the load mainly falls. Two upwardly-curved brackets, 14, are secured with their lower and rearwardlyextending ends, 15, to the under sides of the forward ends of the two outside slats of the bottom, the upper ends of these brackets being bent forward and downward at right angles, so as to form rectangular hooks or supports 17, which are open at their under sides. In these hooks or supports a cross-bar. 1S, is secured near its ends, nutted bolts 19 passing through said hooks or supports and cross-bar. The upper portion of an elliptic The spring, 20, is secured along its middle to the center of the cross-bar 18, and its lower portion is secured to the bolster 21, to the under side of which the front axle, 22, is pivoted.

5 The reach or couplingpole 23 is rigidly secured to the middle of the rear axle, and has hounds or braces 24 secured to its middle and diverging to the ends of the lowered portion of said lrear axle, where they are suitably to bolted; also, said reach has a metallic bar, 25, secured to its under side, which is extended forward and curved upward at its front end,

26, where it is provided with a cross-head, 27,

which is secured by suitable bolts to the fori 5 ward face of the bolster 21.

The kingbolt 28 has its lower end journaled in the forward portion of the metallic bar 25. The front axle is pivoted between said bar near its curved portion and the bolster 21, the latter being braced on its rear side by an upwardly and forwardly extending bracket or brace, 29, which is bolted to the upper side of the reach and secured by its cross head 30 to said rear side of the bolster. Thus said front z5 axle is securely pivoted, and all strain from draft is removed from the front spring and borne by the reach and its braces, which con- Vey it back to the rear axle.

It will be observed from the foregoing that this slatbottom willyieldingly su pport theseat, as is usual in buckboardwagons, and also that the springs will again transmit a yielding support thereto through the bottom, so that, therefore, said seat will have a doubly-yielding support; also, that the dropped or lowered rear axle and the bent brackets at the forward end of the bottom will lower the latter sufficiently to overcome the objectionable rise ordinarily caused by the use of' springs, and that this botv tom will be supported at the samelevel as, or possiblylower than,that in a buckboard-wagon having no springs, this improvement thus do` ing away with the principal objection to the ordinary springsupported buckboard-wagonviz., the 'extra height of the springs and bottom and their consequent weakness and unsteadiness.`

The hooks or supports formed on the forward ends of the brackets rinly secure the cross-barupon the spring,as their downwardlybent portions remove all strain from the bolts; also, by having the front axle and the ifthwheel arranged forward of the slat bott-om said axle can have considerable play and the wagon y be easily turned in a comparatively narrow space; also, by bringing the rear axle forward under the bottom, and thus shortening the coupling of the wagon, the latter is still further adapted to turn in narrow space.

Having thus fully describedv our invention, what we claim as new is- 1. In a buckboard-wagon, the combination of the slat bottom, the dropped or bent rear axle, the longitudinally arranged elliptic 65 springs supporting the rear end of said bottom,

the transverse forward ellipticspring, the front axle pivoted beneath the same, the cross-bar secured to the upper side of the same, and the curved brackets supporting the forward end of said bottom in rear of said spring, substantially as described.

2. In a buckboard-wagon, the combination of the slat bottom, the dropped or bent axle, and the springs secured to the sides ofsaid bottom and also to said axle, substantially as and for the purpose described.

3. In a buckboard-wagon, the combination of the slat bottom, the dropped or bent axle, and the transyerse bar formed with endswhieh are bent upward and outward, with the elliptic springs secured to said dropped or bent portion ofthe axle and to the bent ends of said transverse bar, substantially as and for the purpose described."

4. In a buckboard-wagon, the combination of the slat bottom, the forward axle, the transverse spring, the crossbar secured to said spring, and the upwardly-curved brackets supporting said bottom 'and having rectangularlyhooked ends resting upon said cross-bar, substantially as and for the purpose described.

5. In a buckboard-wagon, the combination of the slat bottom, the transverse bar-secured thereto near its rear end and formed with bent ends, and the upwardlycurved brackets at the forward end of said bottom, with the dropped or bent rear axle, the springs secured to its bent portion and to the bent ends of said transverse bar, the forward spring, the frontaxle, and the cross-bar, to which are secured said brackets, substantially as and for the purpose described.

6. The combination ofthe-slat bottom 3, the cross-bar 18, and theforward elliptic spring, 2G, with the upwardly-curved brackets 14, having their ends 17 bent forward and downward, and nutted bo1ts` 19, passing through said forwardly-bent portions of the bracket ends and through said crossbar, substantially as and for the purpose described.

7. The combination, with the slat bottom 3, the upwardly-curved brackets 14, the forward cross-bar, 18, secured to said brackets and to the forward elliptic spring, 20, the bolster 2l, also secured to said spring, and the front axle, 22, pivoted vunder said bolster, of the reach 23,

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the metallic bar 25 upon its u nder side, which is curved forward and over said front axleandsecured by its crosshead 27 to the for-ward vface of said bolster, and the bracket or brace 29, bolted to the upper side of said reach and secured by its cross-head 30 to the rear face of said bolster, substantially as and vfor the purpose described.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

VILLIAM LEPPERT. VILLIAM I. GARDINER.

Witnesses:

O. H. MONTGOMERY, E. M. BUSH. 

